The land known as the Holy Land has been the locus of three of the world's principal religions: Judaism, Christianity and Islam, and a contested area since 1200BC. The original inhabitants, the Canaanites and Philistines, were conquered in 1000BC by the Jews who remained sovereign for about 280 years. For the next 1500 years a series of conquests and occupations left a residual Jewish population in the area of less than 20%, the rest being predominantly Moslem and Christian Arabs. In this three part series, Charles Smith, professor of Near Eastern Studies at the University of Arizona gives an account of the history of Palestine and Israel. In the first part Smith describes the period from the first wave of Zionist immigrants up to the end of the British mandate in 1948. The second part takes us from the foundation of the State of Israel to the 1967 war and the occupation of the West Bank. In the third segment, Smith covers the 1967 and 1973 wars, the land-for-peace agreement with Egypt up to the Olso Accords and the first and second intifadas. Producer: John Odam (2006)

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